It is true that everything we can see now, out to 13.8 billion years of light-travel time, was once the size of a grapefruit, buzzing with hideous energies, but that grapefruit was already part of an infinite ensemble with no edge, except one made up of time. When we look out, we look into the past, the farther we look, the more deeply into the past we see. At the center is the present. Alas there is no direction in which we can look to see the future — except perhaps into our own hearts and dreams. All we know is right now.

So where is the center of the universe? Right here. Yes, you are the center of the universe.

2015 is drawing to a close, and with it, the onslaught of “year in review” posts, projects, quizzes, and other media has been pushed into the newsfeeds and inboxes of us that hang out on this weird island called the internet. For better or worse, these digital snippets are cause for reflection and celebration, lament or exuberance, or myriad other emotions that the ups and downs of the year may have wrought upon your daily routine.

It’s not that I can’t type it because it’s profane – if you’ve had a conversation with me anytime since starting law school, you’ll know that I have no qualms about peppering my prose with a diverse array of vocabulary (and I wield the words well, dammit!). Continue reading “On the “word of the year””→

It seems like everyone these days has his or her own opinion on happiness. Some may find it by adhering to one of the constantly-fluctuating social benchmarks by which we’re expected to evaluate our own success. Others may seek out a new and novel adventure in a far-off land, inspired by the technicolor imagery and idealism frequently seen on social media. The endless barrage of suggestions on how to be happy has allowed us to generally have a complex relationship with what is truly one of the most fundamental emotions we can extract from our existence: joy.

On August 11, 2015, someone did the impossible: I was taught how to ride a bike.

I’m currently on vacation in the Outer Banks with my family and best friend. The Outer Banks (or OBX, as it is affectionately known to its scores of visitors) is a strip of a barrier island off the coast of North Carolina. It is – and I don’t say this often and mean it in a literal sense – a perfect, beautiful place.

My car is named Frank. Frank is a navy blue, 2006 Acura TSX, and Frank and I are a dream team. The only CDs Frank knows are disco mixes and the Matchbox Twenty anthology, and my pitiful passengers have no other options than to listen to their driver yell along to “Long Day” or “Last Dance” when she’s schlepping them around to whatever destination is on the itinerary for the evening. Frank is my trusty steed, he is an extension of my persona, he is the most stable relationship I’ve had in my life.

Frank has been in the shop for over a month, as a reckless man backed into my baby and caused a (surprisingly) sizable amount of damage. Because of this, I have had the privilege of driving around a rental: an anemic, glaringly red Chevy Cruze. I have deemed it the Little Red Caboose – the LRC – and it is an inferior being.

If you and I are connected in any way, shape, or form on social media, and you have posted a photo where you are non-ironically using a selfie stick, I have judged you.

UGH.

And I am utterly unrepentant about this fact.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good selfie from time to time. Are you feeling your look? Post that mirror pic, girl. Have you been quietly going through a radical fitness transformation and you finally want the world to see? Please, let those abs loose! Goodness knows I need motivation to start doing planks on my own! I’m guilty of posting a selfie on a particularly good hair day, and I’ll be the first to admit that I love the vanity high that comes with seeing people like your photo. But, I do draw the line somewhere, and that somewhere is when you need to attach your phone to a three-foot projectile to take a picture.

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Hey there! My name's Rachel, and I'm a dual JD/MS student in the tundra. My goal is to make it through law school and my Master's program with my head held high and my lipstick un-smudged. I'm glad you're here!